Optus approached Foxtel over EPL rights

By Max Mason and Dominic White

UpdatedMarch 7, 2016 — 7.47amfirst published at 12.00am

​Optus approached Foxtel and Fox Sports about using the satellite and cable monopoly's distribution to screen English Premier League screen games for the lucrative pubs and clubs market following the telecommunications company's audacious $189 million swoop on the rights to the sport.

Fairfax Media understands that Optus, owned by Singapore-based Singtel, approached the pay television sister companies last year but talks have not progressed and ended in December.

Australian football fans are keen to know more about Optus's EPL coverage.Credit:AP

Industry sources say the approach underlines some of the difficulties Optus faces in putting together a package for pubs and clubs. Venues pay a large premium to Fox Sports or Foxtel, which carefully police the market to ensure clients do not simply use cheaper consumer packages.

It is understood the pay TV provider was unwilling to take on the extra cost of splitting its signal so that it only screened the EPL in pubs and clubs. The rights would also be less valuable to Foxtel because they would not have been exclusive.

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Foxtel was dealt a blow in November, when Optus agreed to pay $63 million annually for three years to screen matches between the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, which attract legions of die-hard soccer fans living in Australia.

Industry insiders predict that the loss of the Premier League could lead to a significant number of customers abandoning their Foxtel subscription in favour of Optus's streaming offering.

Beta testing

The page includes questions like "Are you an Optus Customer? Do you currently watch the English Premier League? Are you interested in broadcasting the EPL at your business premises" and reply options such as "Yes, I want to be involved in beta testing of the Optus EPL product".

Optus has a deadline by which time it will tell the EPL how it will distribute games. It is understood to be before the end of the current season.

Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein refused to confirm any talks when asked about them in an interview with Fairfax Media last month, but said: "We're happy to talk Optus about a deal that works for both parties around the English Premier League".

Foxtel and Fox Sports have downplayed the impact of not having the EPL, having last year secured rights to Australia's three most popular football codes, the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League and Australian Rugby Union.

The bumper bid from Optus is understood to be more than double the $20 million to $25 million per year that Fox Sports is paying now.

Optus's business case centres around using the Premier League rights as a way to increase mobile and broadband subscriber growth.

Britain's BT has used sports rights to bolster its own subscriber base. The telco emerged as a sports content player when it first secured rights for the EPL in the United Kingdom in 2012, winning the rights to 38 matches each season from 2013-14 to 2015-16, with BSkyB holding onto 116 games per season.

The next rights deal, signed just over 12 months ago, involved fierce competition between BT and BSkyB which swelled the broadcast rights to £5.14 billion ($10.35 billion) over three seasons. BT and BSkyB both increased the amount of games they have the rights to show to 42 and 126 respectively.